1 player AAR - Machaka

[Tom_Scudder]

Okay, so I felt like writing up a SP after-action thingy. I'd played Machaka a couple times in the demo, but I'd never tried a dragon pretender, so here goes:

The pretender:

Red Dragon, Fire 4 (because (a) I figure I can wear a hat and two misc slots in battle, and a bit more in human spellcasting form, which means I can cast pretty much any fire thing I want. In any case, I seriously doubt I'm going to script more than "fire shield" "change form" "attack".

Castle: I go for a fortified city, because I want as many spider knights as I can, and I can only recruit those in my capital city anyway, so the ridiculous cost to build a new city isn't as much of an issue.

Scales: Productivity 3, Order 3, Growth 3, Bad luck 1, Heat 2, Dominion 6.

Productivity first, to maximize the spider production in the home city - I really, really like my spider cavalry. Then the other positive scales. I'm not thinking this is going to be a research-heavy build, so no magic scale manipulation. I give up some luck since I'm running order 3 anyway, it should be mitigated. I feel a little cheap making that particular trade-off, I must admit. By the way, for single-player games, I'm keeping to a personal handicap of sorts of not creating any gem-producing items (no clams, that is), although with the no-water-magic Machaka, that shouldn't be a problem anyway.

Game setup: 5 difficult opponents: Tien Chi, Jotunheim, Pythium, Abyssia, Ulm, chosen semi-randomly by going click-click-click and then discarding Ermor and the water guys. The Sundering is the map, independents at 9, special sites at 50.

So Cirin, the everburning one, Lord of Penitential Torture, Prince of Patience, Commander of Truth is ready to send his Cirinists out to conquer the world.

[Tom_Scudder]

(There actually will be a bit of fiction later, but I went with a more-or-less conversational tone to start with).

Turn 1: I'm in the middle of the great plains (savannah?) on the northern peninsula. There's a forest to my northeast, the other 4 boundary countries are plains. Potential bummer for my hopes of producing 3+ spider knights a turn, eventually.

I recruit a black sorcerer, a black hunter, and 2 hoplites. I transfer as many of my soldiers as possible to Mjima the Eye of the Lord and send Shujaa the Machaka Chief off to make contact with the natives, with orders to retreat if met with hostility. Mjima is set to patrol in case anyone is upset over the 40% tax hike I'm instituting, and Cirin, in human form, goes to study magick, working on enchantment.

I recruit a Black Sorcerer, a Black Hunter, and a couple Machaka Hoplites.

Provinces 1
Income 352
Research 6
Gems: F 1 (+1) E 2 (+2) N 2 (+2)

End turn. Host.

Turn 2: There was a battle! Zounds! Looks like 25 or so archers, 20 heavy infantry, and maybe 40 light infantry plus 3 commanders. And they were not so pleased to see Shujaa arrive. So he scarpers.

Patrolling troops have killed 8 filthy insurrectionists. The land is now safe and orderly. Heh.

Looks like 80+ troops in all the surrounding plains, in various scary configurations - crossbowmen in one, heavy cavalry in another, and the traditional militia, longbowmen and knights to my southwest. The forest apparently has only 30 or so Vaetti and Wolf Riders, so my buddy Shujaa (who has apparently developed tough skin from dodging the previous volley of arrows) will go check it out.

I recruit a Bane Spider, a Black Hunter, and a hoplite. The Bane Spider will be in charge of conducting further negotiations, as it were, with the commanders of the force to the southeast.

Kimya, the Black Sorcerer, looks to be a good site-searcher down the road (2 F 2 E 1 N 1 D). For now, he can go help out in the lab. And by "help out", I mean "do the Dragon's homework for him".

Provinces 1
Income 350
Research 14 (Enchantment 1 next turn!)
Gems: F 2 (+1) E 4 (+2) N 4 (+2)

End turn. Host.

Turn 3:

Research in Enchantment is completed.
Proclamations from Ulm and Jotunheim. A commander of Ulm and a Jotun Herse have been named prophets of their respective Gods.

There are in fact 32 Vaettis and wolf riders, plus 2 commanders, in the creepy forest. 17 Vaetti and 15 wolves, to be precise. And no "oops - I forgot to mention the five trolls or the scary death mage" like I was expecting. Looks like I will be going into forestry.

Either Cirin or the troops could handle these luzers by themselves, but I want to give my Black Hunters a day out, so Cirin will take the heavy cavalry off with him. They're set up at the back of the field, Cirin in human form. Fire Shield, Fire Flies, Fire Flies, change shape, attack rear. 3 Black Hunters on Hold and Attack. Oops. Only 2 Black Hunters, so I send some Machaka Warriors and Hoplites along as well to back them up.

Mtoto the friendly neighborhood Bane Spider goes off to negotiate with the humans to the southeast. Shujaa goes off to open relations with the heavy inf, crossbowmen, and light inf to the west. I recruit a black hunter and alchemize an earth gem so I can afford a sorcerer.

Provinces 1
Income 336 (I may need to stop overtaxing my people).
Research 8 (Evocation)
Gems: F 3 (+1) E 5 (+2) N 6

End turn. Host.

Turn 4:

We are victorious in the forest of Voteskogg. I shouldn't have messed around with the fire flies spells - they do a bit of damage, but by the time the dragon has run through his script, the wolf riders have already arrived and fought two rounds of combat. Then three of my warriors, despite explicit orders to attack the enemy cavalry, decide to go for glory, break formation, and rush the mass of enemy infantry. They get killed immediately, which convinces the rest of the infantry that they've seen enough, and they run straight home. In the meantime, one of the Black Hunters has been pulled off of his Spider and is now wolf food.

Fortunately, by this time Cirin has assumed his true form and started snacking on wolves. He, the surviving Black Hunter and the dismounted Spider mop up.

The warriors are no great loss, but losing one of my Hunters is a pain, even though the spider is still a good troop. Next time, no messing around with puny magicks for me! Go in monstered up, fire shield, attack.

There is a library, of all things, in the forest. Cirin builds a lab while Kimya the black sorcerer comes over to search for secret doors. Mtumwa the sorcerer (who is also black, but is not so named, for some reason) takes over in the lab at home.

In the meantime, Shujaa has been chased away by 63 troops, including 21 crossbowmen. Mtoto prepares to open negotiations with the people to the southeast, and Shujaa goes off to the north to talk with the heavy cav, heavy inf and light cav there.

The two new provinces bordering the forest of Vateskogg are a coastal plains to the north, peopled by heavy cavalry and heavy infantry, and a forested mountain to the east peopled by Hoburg Guards, Earth Gnomes, a Crusher (!) and Satina the Sorceress (who radiates power). I just like saying "Satina the Sorceress". Where was she when they were handing out names?

Because of the expense of lab-building, I can't afford to recruit any Black Hunters or magicians, so I alchemize another earth gem and recruit a Voice of the Lord, who will be my prophet (and hopefully help keep the infantry from running away quite so soon). Unrest in the new forest is only 8, so I leave taxes at 100.

No sign of the computer players yet, although I do see black candles in both directions.

Provinces 2 (yay!)
Income 371 (upkeep 73)
Research 7 (Evocation)
Gems: F 4 (+1), E 6 (+2), N 8 (+2).

End turn. Host.

[Tom_Scudder]

Turn 5

There is much rejoicing in the village today. Ubwa, destined to be the Prophet of the Most High Cirin, has arrived. All other activities are put aside: Cirin himself marches home with his army (what didn't run away from the fight). The sorcerers (black and not-black) put their researches on hold to prepare the traditional prophet's raiment of a black steel breastplate and a raw hide shield. And Shujaa runs off to invite the militia, longbowmen, and knights from the southwest to the big party. As part of the ceremony, Ubwa will give up his birth name and will now be known simply as "Most Holy". The people are especially pleased to learn that once Most Holy takes up his prophetic office, they will no longer be taxed at 140%.

Meanwhile, one of the commanders who so rudely rejected Shujaa back on turn 1 is found dead in his bed. Doctors, seeing the massive chest wound, diagnose hepatitis. Mtoto is ordered to continue his mission of subtle diplomacy. In the meantime, the newly-founded University of Vateskogg (motto: "We no longer feast on the flesh of humans") seeks to attract its first resident scholar, and the Black Hunter's Academy, done mourning its lost alumnus, resumes its training program. I alchemize two of my remaining earth gems to hire a Sorceress, thus bringing a token female character into this story.

Provinces 2
Income 373 (upkeep 76)
Research 0
Gems: F 5 (+1) E 1 (+2) N 5 (+2)

End turn. Host.

Turn 6

As the ceremonies are held for Most Holy's ascension to the Prophethood, word comes in that Mtoto the Bane Spider was found dead next to the body of the second commander. The envoy from Midkrona was most unpleasant about how he returned the body, and suggested that Machakan diplomacy left something to be desired. And so it was with mingled joy and sorrow that the Machakan people celebrated their new prophet. Nayla, the token female, was seen to shed a bitter tear at Mtoto's unhappy fate. Cirin nearly set fire to the province when he heard how much it would cost to replace him. ("150 GOLD? 150 of MY gold?") The people are overjoyed to hear that their taxes have been reduced - to 120%. Mjima continues to patrol, on his own, to see that no dissent is raised.

Shujaa was seen off by 8 knights, 3 knight commanders, a priest, 21 longbow, and 45 militia when he arrived. Ta'ar Bal, Full Professor of Necromancy, arrived and commenced his researches. Kimya searched the University grounds for the entrance to the steam tunnels. Shujaa headed towards the U in order to attempt to contact Satina the Sorceress and see if she was interested in teaching a few courses. (While secretly hoping to find out just WHY she was named "Satina".) Nayla and Mtumwa repair to the lab to "continue their researches". A second Sage, a new Bane Spider, and 4 more hoplites are recruited.

And the great Machakan Army, commanded by its God and accompanied by his Prophet, marches north to begin its campaign of conquest.

Provinces 2
Income 325, upkeep 79
Research 19 (5 to Evocation, 14 to Construction)
Gems: F 6 (+1) E 3 (+2) N 7 (+3)

This is turn 6, so I'm going to peek at the score charts. I expect to be down the list on provinces, but not too far down. Indeed. Tien Chi has 4, Jotunheim 3, and Ulm 2 provinces, and Abyssia and Pythium have not yet gotten out of their home provinces. Thanks to my tax and repress policy, I'm number one in income and have been since turn 1. I'm last in dominion, last in research, tied for last in gem income (only Ulm has found any), and fourth in army size. Tien Chi's army grew very suddenly - they must be the early-season mercenary users. I'll check in again in 5 more turns.

End turn. Host.

[Tom_Scudder]

Turn 7

The Battle of Norrslatt: Once again, the infantry takes it on the chin. This time, thanks to the prophet encouraging them, they stand and get slaughtered by the enemy cavalry, instead of routing immediately. The good news is, first, that I won, and second, that my Black Hunters came out of the fight unscathed. The (other) bad news is that the reason they came out unscathed was because they interpreted my "hold and attack" order as "stand there and watch the infantry get slaughtered", and only got into the attack after the infantry were basically all dead. I suppose I'll have to place them closer to the infantry next time.

Elsewhere: Kimya, unable to find the entrance to the steam tunnels, comes across an old battlefield instead, giving Machaka the death gem income to go with its death-obsessed sorcerers (and sorceresses, yes, Nayla). Kimya goes off to search the newly conquered province. Pythium proclaims that Faglius (no, really!) the Emerald Lord will be their prophet. The prophet Faglius. And Vatteskog University welcomes Manvale, Full Lecturer in Hydromancy, to the fold.

Mashuhuri, my new Bane Spider, heads off to Midkrona after first consulting with the spirit of his predecessor. Shujaa heads out to ask the Sorceress Satina for her phone number. And the much-diminished army continues on to the north, to take on an unscouted coastal province with some 40-odd heavy cavalry and heavy infantry. And, cheeseball that I am, I'm going to hold off and copy my savegame so I can come back if Cirin dies in this fight.

(And then I went and hosted before I reset my research priorities. Oops.)

I recruited another sage, a Black Hunter, and four more Hoplites.

Provinces 3, Income c. 370, upkeep less.
Research 26 (Construction 19, Evocation 7)
Gems: F 7 (+1) E 5 (+2) D 1 (+1) N 9 (+2)

Turn 8

The Battle of Nordhamn:

As it turns out, instead of 40 troops, there were only 20, so Cirin and his spiders were able to rout the cavalry (after killing half of them) before the infantry had gotten halfway across the field. Much chompage and stompage ensued.

Research in Construction is completed. It occurs to me that I can probably make Manikins. I wonder if I should.

Wow, Satina the Sorceress was totally out of Shujaa's class. F 2 E 4 S 3 D 3 N 3, wearing a robe she sewed herself that gives plus 1 in all sorcery spheres, as well as a poison ring and a lucky charm. She was hanging out with one of her sorceress girlfriends (F1 E1 S2 N1), her pet fall bear, a huge hulking crusher, and about forty Earth Gnomes (25 hp, regenerate). Oh, and a bunch of Hoburg Guards hanging around out back, pointing and laughing as Shujaa beat a hasty retreat.

In the meantime, Vatteskog U is pleased to welcome the eminent son of an eminent father, Ta'ar Bal Jr., to its faculty. He will head our new Center for Pyromantic Studies, the first such center to be located in a forest environment.

Mashuhuri the Bane Spider sets out to have a heart-to-heart (or possibly dagger-to-heart) discussion with the surviving commander in Midkrona, while Shujaa prepares to walk in and reap the benefits of this diplomacy (or possibly get slaughtered, if I miscounted and there's one commander left.) He looks forward to seeing a battle that he doesn't have to flee from headlong.

There's a bit of unrest in Nordhamn, so I bump the tax rate down to 80. I recruit a new sage, a new sorceress, a Black Hunter, and a few more hoplites. Kimya has arrived in Norrslatt and prepares to search. Cirin searches Nordhamn for sources of fire, while Most Holy takes the army south. Cirin will fly in to join in a combined invasion of Gulvidda with fresh troops from the main city next turn.

Provinces 4, income 398, Upkeep 95
Research 33 (33 Construction - Con 2 next turn! I'm headed for Con 4 because I need supplies if I'm going to lead much of an army into the mountains to the west of me).
Gems: F 8 (+1) E 7 (+2) D 2 (+1) N 11 (+2)

[Tom_Scudder]

Turn 9

Shujaa arrives in Midkrona to find a succession struggle in progress, as all of the commanders have mysteriously turned up dead. He rapidly takes command, and converts the province to the service of Cirin. It turns out that one source of the town's discontent was that it has its own library, and resents the fact that Vatteskog University (which has just opened a Faculty of Earth Science) has drawn away all the top scholars. Shujaa promises to talk to Dean Ta'ar Bal about opening a branch as soon as possible, but is somewhat distracted to see a purple banner up over the horizon.

The ancient empire of Pythium yet lives! He had thought it only a story from old books. He rapidly organizes a provincial militia (defense 10), announces a one week tax holiday, and heads back to the capital to report.

In the meantime, Mjima the Eye of the Lord is taken off of his tax-collecting duties to bring the fresh troops from the capital (2 Black Hunters and 9 Hoplites) west, to join the rest of the army in an assault on Gulvidda. With him leaving, taxes are reduced back to normal.

Cirin, meanwhile, has been unable to find the source of the fire emanations he SWORE he could feel in Nordhamn somewhere. So he shifts to dragon form and flies off to Gulvidda, hoping a bit of destruction will make him feel better. Kimya, fresh from having found a Stone Circle (1 N/turn, can recruit Druid), heads north "just in case" his boss missed something.

Mashuhuri heads south to scout ("JUST to scout") the empire of Pythium. In addition to the legion, two new independent territories are visible. One to the east looks temptingly vulnerable: 30 Vaetti and wolf riders. But taking it might represent an unsupportable extension of the Cirinist empire's borders.

Recruits: an independent scout in Midkronia, a sage, a Black Hunter, a witch doctor.
Provinces 5
Income 408 - Upkeep 114
Research: 45, all in construction (54 for level 3)
Gems: F 9 (+1) E 9 (+2) D 3 (+1) N 14 (+3).

End turn. Host.

Turn 10

The battle for Gulvidda goes reasonably well - 1 hoplite and 1 precious Black Hunter lost to defeat an army of 60 or more. In retrospect, I should have positioned the two squads of Hunters next to each other, as the small group of 2 fresh from town found themselves surrounded out ahead of the infantry. They inflicted serious damage on the enemy infantry, but one of them didn't make it out.

Gulvidda is home to the Cedar Pillars - 2 N, 1 A, 30 Enchant bonus. NU may look into opening an experimental lab here. The army, now that it is organized and united once more, faces a choice of directions: north, to a group of 40 (unscouted) militia, archers and heavy foot, south, to the force of knights and longbows, or west into the mountains, where a tribe of wild Amazons has been training Griffin riders. The griffins look interesting, but I want to complete my conquest of the northern plains first. I think the current army could probably beat the knights, but it would be better to have a few extra Hunters and infantry (and maybe even, god forbid, some extra archers). So north it is.

Mjima the Tax Man of the Lord was going to go to Midkronia and help them organize their tax collection, but it turns out that Shujaa has gone a bit simple in the head and will not be capable of leading the reinforcements from town for the battle in Solhov (against the knights) in two turns. So Shujaa is sent west to make first contact with whoever lives north of the amazons. (Scouting flying creatures by the attack-and-retreat method is not highly recommended. It would be a way to get rid of a more-or-less useless commander, but I've grown attached to the little guy.)

Pythium has conquered the vaetti I mentioned last turn, but still only border one of my provinces. Scouts report that they must have come in from the east or south, as there is nothing but independents to the west of them.

Kimya is searching Nordhamn for magic sites. Various scouts are doing their scouty things. Researchers are researching. All is well and at peace, except where they're at war.

Recruits: a sage, a scout, a hunter, five more hoplites.

Provinces: 6
Income: 486, Upkeep 125
Research: 55 - 9 from Construction 3 (already have Evo 1 and Ench 1)
Gems: F 10 (+1) A 1 (+1) E 11 (+2) D 4 (+1) N 19 (+5)

My nature income is getting to the point that setting up a druid temple and starting Vine Ogre mass production seems like a good idea. Or I could just make Manikins (which it turns out take Con 3, not 1 like I thought.)

So far, a pretty good start, but I am nervous about not running into any other computer players yet. Though I guess that's also a good sign, in a sense.

(NEXT: An unforeseen setback forces me to commit fan fiction.)

[shovah]

great aar, keep it up

[Tom_Scudder]

The army's outriders dragged in a man - pale-skinned and wearing black steel chainmail and a tabard bearing the sign of a white moon on a blue field. He turned even paler on seeing the dragon in its full majesty, but his voice was steady enough: "Are you the one that calls himself Cirin, Lord of Torture and Vileness?"

"Penitential Torture. And who might you be, presumptious one? I am marching towards conquest, and though I am also Prince of Patience, I do not have a lot of time."

"My mistress sends me with a message: Lydia, the Vampire Queen, Persecutor and Destroyer of Youth and Queen of Ulm, demands you cease this mocking pretense to divinity immediately. Fail to surrender immediately and subjugate yourself to her, and she will know the taste of dragon's blood!"

"Oh, very well rehearsed. A Vampire Queen. Then you would say that she is a mistress of life and death?"

"Of course! And of the deepest mysteries of existence!"

"And then that the barriers between life and death pose no obstacle for her?"

"Well, no..." The envoy seemed to notice once more that he stood before a twelve-ton carnivore.

"Then she will be able to read my response when your ashes blow past her palace!"

Later:

"Are you truly the Prince of Patience, lord?"

"Among Dragon-kind, the extent of my patience with the smaller folk is legendary."

That was the morning. The afternoon saw the defenders of Gula Kusten turn out, prepared for a fight. The lines were drawn up at the back of the battlefield so the great Dragon could try some new magic before he leapt into the fray. The fire darts worked marvelously, burning two of the lightly-armored units alive and wounding several others. And the leaping into the fray worked beautifully as well. The day saw not a single casualty.

And then the evening. The troops prepared their camp, and the outriders had rounded up some of the village notables to pledge themselves to the cause, when a voice cried out:

"Defenders of Gula Kusten, come forth! We claim this land in the name of Ulm and of Lydia!"

"That is the second time I have heard that name spoken today. I would not be sorry never to hear it again."

Cirin took to the air, surveying the field, then landed behind his army's hastily-arrayed lines.

"Would you like to wait for the rest of your troop to arrive?" he called to the 7 men who faced him. Two were mounted, and five on foot - one an obvious noncombatant, unarmed and unarmored and carrying the tools of a siege engineer.

One of the mounted men spoke: "It is 7 men of Ulm facing a score of the trash of Machaka. I would say the odds favor us."

"Enough talk. I am Cirin, the Everburning One, and I will see your bones piled before me."

The battle plan was drawn up to oppose a large, lightly-armored force, but improvisational genius was not one of Cirin's many virtues. Still, how badly could things go? His spells flew wide of the targets, but he made short work of the engineer and his two bodyguards, and looked around for other prey. Where was that knight with the big mouth, anyway?

And then the lance punctured his lung.

He flailed around miserably - one of his claws took the man's eye - but the Ulmish warrior followed up with a well-placed mace blow that fractured the dragon's skull.

Roderik pulled the lance free and looked to the rest of the field, where his men had despite his boast been overwhelmed. This could have been a disaster, but this one blow told for all. Bearing his still-dripping lance, he wheeled and rode for home.

And so the vampire queen's boast was fulfilled on the same day it was delivered.

[Tom_Scudder]

Wow, after that, what else is there to say? Very quickly: I think I should be able to squish Ulm - I'm pretty sure I have a bigger industrial base and now I have a foothold right next to his home territory. Swap my money out of making researchers and into breeding spiders, and I should be able to start sieging his castle in two turns or so. Losing the dragon hurts, and I only have 6 priest-power right now - I'll also be recruiting voices of the lord (who also might come in handy if Ulm has other undead or demons about, and who I probably needed to start recruiting at some point), which are 3 strength priests, but if I recruit nothing but votl's and put them to calling immediately, my calling will go (4 + 7 + 12 + 15 + <15= 5 turns to get Cirin back) Most Holy is currently sitting on a priest-recruitable province if he builds a temple there - that would go (0 + 7 + 14 + 19 = 40 precisely in 4 turns, plus it leaves me with a temple where I would have to build one eventually anyway. But it also leaves me with 2 semi-useless independent priests, and sucks out more money during the middle of a war effort. Still, 4 turns is better than 5 turns. The other thing I haven't mentioned is that I've also found Pythium's home city, and it's only one space removed from my southeasternmost province (Midkrona, for those keeping score at home).

As part of the war effort, I have three mages in my capital raise undead - my witch doctor and sorcerer cast "construct Manikin" (thereby spending 20 of my 24 nature gems), and a sorceress casts reanimation, using all 5 of my death gems. I also alchemize 6 fire and 11 earth gems to be able to pay for a temple, and recruit a voice of the lord, 2 black hunters, one more scout in the province bordering pythium, and 1 independent archer in the province bordering Ulm. I ship 4 nature gems to Pythium as a sign of peace, friendship, and brotherhood, and really really hope (1) they're playing serpent cult and so feel inclined to trust a fellow-lizard and (2) they don't realize quite yet that Cirin is dead.

I run my province defense in my new province to 9, which is all I can afford without (even more) alchemy. I also move my Black sorcerer, Kimya, over from where he's just found an Earth Blood Seepage (+2 Earth), so he can bolster the defenses and search at the same time. Mjima starts walking my infantry from the capital over - strat move 1, it'll take them 2 turns. I also send Tefle (my other new sorceress) up to the front with four archers and two more Hunters, and order poor simple Shujaa back to the capital so he can ferry reinforcements up later.

If Ulm comes at me next turn, I will have a province defense of 9, along with 7 hunters, 9 archers, 1 level 4 priest, and 2 mages: a 2-path and a 1-path fire and death mage with only evo 1/ench 1 to work with. That probably won't survive if they hit me with all 60 units (assuming they really have 60 units) I see in their home castle. If Pythium decides that now is the time to take advantage of my obvious weakness, I'm really hosed.

We'll see!

Take-home lesson: Wear a safety helmet! I didn't quite realize that dragons only have 18 protection, which is nice, but not exactly invulnerable, even to normal troops. Spending 5 research points and 5 earth gems to give him a nice black steel helmet would have put his protection above 20, which is where I like it. So kids, remember, don't send your dragon out to play unless he's got his helmet.

Also, the Random Number Generator can be cruel. That one lance hit was 45 points of damage in one hit! Now, Cirin was kind of fatigued from spell-casting, so he might have had his armor ignored, but that's still a mighty big hit for a 16 damage no-strength-added armor-piercer.

Right, that was a bit disorganized. I think I'll leave it as it is, since it's a pretty good reflection of my thought processes.

Provinces: 7
Income: 522 Upkeep 140
Research: 47 (54 to Construction 4, also Evo 1 and Enchantment 1)
Gems: F 5 (+1) A 2 (+1) E 4 (+4) D 0 (+1) N 0 (+5). The cupboard, she is bare.

I was going to check the graphs again to see how the world was shaping up, but I like the suspense.

[shovah]

very unlucky with that lance but better luck next time eh?

[Tom_Scudder]

The luck did indeed improve. I didn't keep track of when and whether Roderik the Black Lord got his comeuppance, unfortunately. He probably got et by a spider during the big fight after Turn 14.

[Tom_Scudder]

(I just remembered that I'd taken a screen shot after Turn 11, which I'll attach to this one if I can figure out how.)

Turn 12

No messages. Whew.

A smallish legion (more of a squadron, really) of the undead has been summoned, big enough that I need 2 of my death mages to ferry them to the front, along with the giant spiders. Kimya searches for magic sites as long as he's there, and Mjima the Tax Accountant of the Gods continues his long march to the front. The entire army should be assembled next month.

Meanwhile, scouts are reporting that Pythium has five provinces, and none of them border any other empire besides mine. This is disturbing. I would feel much better if they had another border to worry about. Pythium is also massing troops directly south of my border, but they might well be trying for the independent province just west of them. Another scout moving into position next turn should be able to give me a sense of how big Ulm is (and thus, how big a threat).

I recruit a Voice of the Lord and an independent priest, although at the last minute I realize that my previous calculations were off: If I'm going to invade next turn, I will need to have my level 4 Priest along, blessing my troops and giving them courage. If half my troops end up routing, leaving the other half to be fed to my esteemed opponent, it won't much matter if I get my god back in 4 turns rather than 5. The old math, starting this turn, went 7 + 14 + 19 = 40. The new math for continuing to recruit on the same plan, assuming Most Holy doesn't get killed in the attack, and that he can distribute his troops to some other commander for the siege, goes: 7 + 10 + 19. If I leave out the independent priests, I get 7 + 8 + 15 which still gets me my god back by turn 16. If I leave out the independents and the second votl, it goes 7 + 8 + 12 + 12 which doesn't quite cut it. If Most Holy gets killed or is otherwise unavailable, we get 7 + 8 + 11 + 14, which is exactly 40, with the voice of the lord plan. But. It occurs to me that having a bunch of independent priests casting banishment might be really handy when it comes to sieging a death mage. And that Ulm seems to have pretty piss-poor dominion, which would indicate that I might just be able to preach them out. So, after all that, we'll stick with plan A.

I also recruit two more hunters, alchemizing two more earth gems to do it. Shujaa can bring them up next turn.

In the meantime, I'm feeling pretty stupid about having kept my research in construction last turn. I have a pretty sad assortment of spells for my mages right now, and could use alteration 1 (barkskin), 2 (stoneskin) and thaumaturgy 1 (dust to dust). I can get alt 1 and thaum 1 this turn, and put 9 points toward alt 2, which I can get in time for the assault, if not in time to script spells for it. So that's set. I'm not going to talk about taxes again unless it's funny, but you can assume that I'm doing the little geeky alterations, basically dropping tax for provinces with unrest of 10 or more and then raising it back to 100 when unrest drops to single digits.

Provinces 7
Income 545 Upkeep 152
Research 49 (29 Alteration, 20 Thaumaturgy, both will be level 1 next turn) also Evo 1, Const 3, Ench 1.
Gems: F 6 (+1) A 3 (+1) E 6 (+4) D 1 (+1) N 5 (+5)
God calling: 7/40

End turn. Host.

Turn 13.

Kimya found another magic site - so far, he's 4 for 4. I sure hope he doesn't get killed in the battle. It's another Earth Blood Seepage, which puts me up to 6 a month Earth income. Me likes. I get my level 1 in thaum and level 1 in alt, so I'm a happy camper. In the meantime, Ulm seems to have pulled almost all of its troops out of the capital. But I'm sure they'll be moving them right back in next turn. Pythium keeps shifting its stupid army back and forth on my border. On the plus side, they've made contact with Abyssia on their south, so I'm no longer the only front they have to worry about.

The various bits of my army have now all converged on Gula Kusten. It consists of:

20 Manikins
10 assorted Longdead
17 Machaka Hoplites
8 Black Hunters plus 1 Spider
8 Machaka Archers plus 1 independent (nearly identical, except the independent is wearing a bit of armor)
2 sorceresses (F E D)
1 witch doctor (E D N)
1 black sorcerer (2F 2E D N)
plus 1 level 4 priest (and prophet) and 2 level 2 priests.

Heck with it, I'm going in (with my prophet). I ditch 1 hoplite who has battle fright, but decide to keep the one spider who does also. Ulm province defense of 25 means lots of crossbows, so I need to get my spiders on them right quick. I put the hoplites front and center with their big arrow-absorbing shields, set to "hold and attack" and set the spiders back a bit and to their left with "attack archer" orders. The undead are stationed on the hoplite's right with "attack nearest" orders. The archers are back a bit with "shoot large monsters" (just in case the behemoth I've seen puts in an appearance - if so, I think I remember that they don't have much defense, just a whole lot of hit points. I refuse to consult references on this.) I'm leaving one unscripted "cast spell" as the first spell slot and hoping my wizards take the clue and use it to cast stoneskin, and not fire shield. Then it's bombs away with the fire darts. I'm half tempted to leave them completely unscripted so they can cast dust to dust if the behemoth comes to play. But I don't

Okay, there's the plan. Now let's see you do it.
In other news, I shuttle 2 hunters to the front with Shujaa, recruit a voice of the lord, an independent priest, and 2 more hunters, and tell my scouts to do scouty things.

Total income: 536 Upkeep 165
Research: Alteration 31 (31 for level 2), Evocation 18 (33 for level 2) also const 3, ench 1, thaum 1.
Gems: F 7 (+1) A 4 (+1) E 11 (+6) D 2 (+1) N 10 (+5)
God Calling: 17/40

End Turn. Host.

[shovah]

any chance of battle screenshots?

[Tom_Scudder]

Well, since you asked nicely, here's the key battle from turn 11 - there won't be any more because I didn't save any of the later turns (except maybe from turn 20-something when I declared victory).

They are (in order): early on in the fight, with Cirin still sitting behind the lines and both forces in motion (5 spiders vs. 1 knight, I like those odds); Cirin springs into action vs. the siege engineer (poor lad, only doing his job); and the dolorous stroke itself, in all its pixellated glory (I flatter myself to think that my prose was EVEN MORE evocative of the moment).

Hm. Guess I'll put them in 3 posts since it doesn't seem to want to let me attach multiple files to one post.

[Tom_Scudder]

Right. So. 2/3: Cirin vs. the Siege Engineer

[Tom_Scudder]

And, finally: In a scene as old as pixellated time, pixellated knight takes on pixellated dragon.

[Tom_Scudder]

Turn 14

Victory!

Well, in the initial fight, anyway. The plan worked out pretty well. It was just the province defense, which meant 5 infantry, 20 crossbows, and a commander and a priest (which last I'd forgotten about. The infantry did their job of soaking up crossbow fire, although the undead took a bit of a hit, particularly the longdeads, and somehow or other I ended up losing another two hunters, although their spiders are doing just fine, thanks. One infantry died, and they ended up routing, but not before the PD was pretty much history.

Ulm (actually, on this map it's "Helshov", and Machaka is "Viddlanden") has only one black candle - I think I can probably preach them out once Cirin gets home, if they don't manage to break the siege first. I set my prophet to preach, instead of call god, since I have enough excess capacity to get Cirin back in two turns anyway. I also have enough excess capacity to be able to use my Tax Man of the Lord to shuttle back in the routed infantry along with a couple spare Hunters who arrived last turn. That puts me to 10 total spiders, which is nice. I reorganize my army setup on the theory that future battles will be fought against lots of infantry and practically no bows, since Ulm somehow arms its province defense with nifty crossbows but doesn't think it's a fitting weapon for a mobile soldier. Or something.

My scout reports zero Ulmish troops in the immediate vicinity. They all must be inside. In the meantime, Pythium has a 100+ strong force sitting on my border, and nobody on their Abysian border. Don't they understand how dangerous those smoky firey guys are? I hire a mercenary, Gynter Blukraft's Sonnenkinder, to my capital to give me some kind of reserve, and so that Ulm doesn't get them - I bid their asking price plus 5, which has yet to not win me a mercenary against a computer opponent. I also forego new Spiders to pick up a Black Sorcerer, and edge my province defense in Midkrona (bordering Pythium) up to 12, which is pretty pathetic, but I don't feel like looting my gem supplies again when he might just be going after independents.

Provinces: 7.5
Income 571 Upkeep 168
Research: Evo 37 (15 to level 2), Construction 12 (12 to level 4). Also Alt 2 Ench 1 Thaum 1
Gems: F 8 (+1) A 5 (+1) E 17 (+6) D 3 (+1) N 15 (+5).
Call 30/40

End Turn. Host.

Turn 15

There was a battle in Helshov (Ulm).
They killed all but 1 of my undead (a single Manikin), all but 3 of my Hunters (but I still have a bunch of unsaddled spiders) 5 of my hoplites and a couple of my archers who ran out of arrows and decided to be helpful.

The Behemoth did indeed come out to play, but it was too small to stomp on my spiders, so it wasn't as grim as I had feared. Also as expected, the Ulmites brought no archers to the game, and had to walk all the way across the field through a peppering of fire darts. Then it was a pure infantry shield-wall-to-shield-wall struggle, and my guys managed to pull through. In the meantime, the vamp queen (paths W6 E7 D9 B2, lots of gems, no other magic stuff) was spending all her time casting raise dead (the one that brings back half a dozen or so at once) and sending them up to the line, and my priests kept banishing them. I think I lost at least as many of my undead to friendly fire as anything else. Anyway, ultimately the Machakan forces prevailed in the infantry clash, cleared the field of skeletons, and hopefully left the immortal vamp queen with a nice battle affliction to nurse while she sits on the inside.

In the meantime, Pythium apparently did concentrate its troops to attack independents. Now I worry that they might go after the longbowmen and knights that I've designated for MY sphere of influence next. But I can't worry about that just now. Gynter Blukraft shows up at my capital (I now wish I'd hired him to Ulm - oh well) and will head down to the Pythian border to show the flag (or the big shaded X, in this case). My new Black Sorcerer shows up - it's Muyaka, known to his friends (and us) as "Nature Boy" Muyaka for the third-path Nature magic at his command. This gives me visions of Gift of Health and other fun 5-nature magicks down the road. We'll see.

There's a troop of 20 more Infantry of Ulm, but I'm not worried. The Armored Fist of God is up for hire, so I hire him, more to keep him away from Ulm than anything else. I hire a new commander in Gula Kursten just on the off chance some of my sodiers rout there again, and then I'm stuck with a choice: more spiders, or more magic? With 160 gold left, I could hire a spider and a few indy archers up at Gula Kusten. Or I could get a sage and a witch doctor. I opt for the magicians, since I need someone to start forging bags o' wine, and would rather have a low-research peon take care of it. I also put one of my sages to making a crash helmet for the new dragon. He *****es about manual labor being a waste of his talents, but needs must.

I make my first bag o' wine, since I'm a bit worried about supplies what with the mercenary force showing up at the siege. I figure the dragon can fly it in with him.

Provinces 7.5
Income 588, Upkeep 157
Research: 42 Evocation (Evo 3 needs 38. Yay! Magma bolts! - I erase most of my sorceresses' and sorcerer's scripted spells, hoping that they know a good thing when one is handed to them.)
Gems: F 9 (+1) A 6 (+1) E 18 (+6) D 4 (+1) N 15 (+5).
Call: 41/40. Yay!

End Turn. Host

[Tom_Scudder]

Turn 16

Just as the people celebrate the unlooked-for return of their God from what seemed like his death, tragedy again strikes the Cirinist faith. In a battle at the Ulmish stronghold, a vampire swoops down upon the Most Holy Prophet of Cirin and claims his life. The beast is promptly annihilated by the combined fire of the nearby mages, but the damage has been done: Cirin has lost his prophet, just as he made his triumphant return.

Taking possession of a few keepsakes made for him by his followers (a black steel helmet ("for that last blow, the one where he conked you on the head, not the one with the lance") and an endless bag of wine, whose endlessness Cirin certainly put to the test), and bearing a scabbed-over wound that would never quite heal, the dragon flew out to inspect the siege.

"So a vampire has tasted dragon blood. I mean to enjoy the taste of broiled vampire."

Ofagion the commander collects up the expected straggler from the previous fight (just one hoplite this time), along with a couple spiders shuttled in by poor old Shujaa. He is replaced at his post by the three Voices of the Lord (Kamau, Abasi, and Mkufuzi), who had been trained to perform the ceremonies that led to Cirin's return, and now found themselves in a competition to see who could take the Prophet's mantle.

In the meantime, Giuseppe Del Migo, the inquisitor, was pleased to find himself hunting vampires. "No filth more unclean," he said, "not even among the tribals."

Recruiting: 1 sage, 1 scout, 1 black sorcerer, 1 black hunter.

No mercenaries this turn (thank God).

Pythium has dispersed his (still alarmingly large) armies. Scouts are moving into position to find out a bit more about Abysia and the other still unaccounted-for Pretenders.

Troops moved to the front of the field so as to give the Vamp Queen a bit less time to summon her undead minions.

Provinces: 7.5 (I need to start conquering the remaining bits of Ulm soon. Maybe another mercenary will turn up.)
Income 595 Upkeep 161
Research: Evocation 56 (96 needed for level 4) (with a pair of Earth Boots, Kinya could cast Blade Wind. That is all.) Also, Alt 2, Con 4, Ench 1, Thaum 1.
Gems: F 10 (+1) A 7 (+1) E 24 (+6) D 1 (+1) N 5 (+5). I forgot to mention that a necromancer stole all my death stones. Jerk.

End turn. Host.

Turn 17

Once again, the vampire sorceress attempts to retake her castle. This time, she finds the fresh mercenaries of Giuseppe Del Migo and a very alive, and very angry, dragon to contend with. Cirin flies across the battlefield hunting down vampires, very happily munching down the vampire who had murdered his prophet before becoming bogged down in a seemingly-endless stream of the undead called up by the Queen. His forces eventually came to his relief, and the Queen, sensing that her dominion had passed and that she might not revive if she stayed to the bitter end, fled the scene.

Scouts, in the meantime, report that Ulm controls only two more provinces beyond its capital, and that beyond those provinces lies the Jotun capital. Jotunheim and Abyssia appear to share the bulk of the southern portion of the continent. But where is Tien Chi? The mysterious Easterners have yet to put in an appearance.

It turns out I recruited a regular sorcerer instead of a black one last turn. Oops. Still, Kitunzi shows promise as a site searcher (1F 1W 1D 2N) so I'll send him to the one unsearched province I control. No Earth searching, but I do not anticipate a shortage of earth gems being a concern.

Shujaa ferries a Hunter along with a ring of regeneration and a bag of wine to the staging point at Gula Kusten. Two of the three Voices of the Lord step in to assist at the siege. The third awaits Shujaa's arrival.

Vatteskog U now boasts one faculty in each of the main specialties of Magic except for Blood (as is only right), and has two faculty each devoted to Hydromancy and Astral magic.

Pythium continues to shuffle its troops about according to no clear plan.

I rehire Gynter Blukroft (who has probably never seen such soft service) and train a sage and a black sorcerer (this time for sure). Fordo Boggit is up for hire, but I blanch at the 220 gold he demands. If Ulm wants to pay him, so be it. At last sighting, the Queen was leading an elite band of slingers, so I doubt myself if she has the financial resources to pay mercenaries.

But I could be wrong.

Provinces: 7.5
Income 612, Upkeep 185
Research: 40 Evocation (40 needed for level 4), 33 Construction (160 needed for level 5). Planning on shooting for enchantment 5 and construction 6, not necessarily in that order, so that I can get Gift of Health running. Construction 5 and a pair of Earth Boots gives Kinya a chance to build some fun wind-up toys.
Gems: Fire 11 (+1), Air 8 (+1), Earth 30 (+6), Death 2 (+1), Nature 10 (+5).

[PashaDawg]

Excellent AAR!

[shovah]

yea, we need more aars here

[Tom_Scudder]

Turn 18. The Vampire Queen returns, but now instead of a vast host, she is at the head of a pathetic band of slingers, with one infantry and one pikeman still at her call. This time, Cirin is able to pounce upon her before she has started summoning her undead minions, and happily ignores them as he finally takes his revenge.

A pathetic message arrives from the scattered remnants of Ulm's queendom: "You killed our God! This war will not end until everyone of your people are dead!" Or vice versa.

The gates to the castle now lie open. I'm going to go in in force, just to be safe, but do not expect to be opposed. And then, Ulm's remaining territories lie open for quick conquest. I will rehire Giuseppe for that purpose, and then perhaps turn his hand at suppressing the Amazons in the mountain provinces.

Meanwhile, scouts report finally seeing evidence of Tien Chi. And how. They report a battle between Tien Chi and Abysia, with Tien Chi bringing an impressive array of archers, infantry and cavalry to bear against Abysia's local overmatched local militia. It seems Tien Chi may be the true power in the South. Abysia's capital is yet unconquered and unbesieged, but its only other known province is now cut off by the Tien Chi invaders.

Giuseppe Del Migo's contract is up next month, so we rehire him to finish the job he's started in Ulm. Meanwhile, another Black Sorcerer and four more Hoplites are recruited at the capital. Shujaa arrives at Gula Kusten bearing magical supplies and reinforcements, only to be told that he's too late. Ofagion takes pity on the confused veteran, and tells him to bear the magical gifts he holds on to his God while Ofagion leads the Black Hunter home. Cirin's many priests start to disperse to begin the vigorous temple-building project the God drew up during his convalescence. "Fire-eating" Mshabatha is the latest addition to the God's growing ranks of magicians. He spends his first days in the city's lab, forging some earth boots for his old colleague Kimya, while an order is put in to VU's Department of Earth Science for a set of Bracers of Defense.

Income 628, Upkeep 206.
Research 74 Construction (127 left for level 5), also Alt 2, Evo 4, Ench 1, Thaum 1.
Gems: F 12 (+1), A 9 (+1), E 21 (+6), D 3 (+1), N 15 (+5).

This is threatening to become tedious, so I'm not going to report on the next few turns if all goes as expected. I hope to mop up Ulm's remaining provinces, then take out the longbowmen and knights on the last day of Gynter's contract, and then do a bit more mopping up of independents whilst rebuilding my armies and perhaps engaging in a spot of temple-building. Thus far, I've had no problems with hostile dominions, so I may not even bother with that last.

Anyway, if Pythium or Jotunheim go to war, I'll consider that worthy of comment.

Turn 26: Okay, so Pythium declared war, and their initial attack was shredded. I have labs at the three choke points with nice buff casters at each lab, and more spiders than I know what to do with. I'm far ahead in the graphs in provinces, income, research, and gem income, and the only reason I'm not way ahead in army size is I haven't been bothering to cast my summon spells. I also have the top 9 spots in the hall of fame. There are only three territories through which I could be attacked, plus an independent so buff I doubt anyone but me could take her out, and even I would probably lose too much for it to be worth it. The other players might be able to harass me with imprint souls or ghost riders or whatever (assuming they had the research for them), but that's about it.

If I successfully conquer Pythium, I won't be overexposing myself, either, because swallowing up all their territories still only leaves me with a grand total of three points of exposure to enemy territory. In the meantime, everyone else is squeezed into one corner of the map, and Tien Chi and Abysia would have to go through either Pythium or Jotunheim just to get to me.

I'm declaring this game won, because I don't feel like actually fighting a war against an opponent I feel sorry for. Maybe I'll save it for some time when I get jumped by 3 computer players simultaneously or something.

I think the 9-strength independents worked in my favor, as once I'd accumulated the firepower needed to take out the moderately tough ones, I was able to sweep through a large number of them, while the computer player doesn't seem to have been able to crack that puzzle.

Bonus Grafix: This one is a final map of my territory. I'll also include a world map in the next post.

[shovah]

i tend to declare my games won alot aswell, i mean once i get into your sort of position (impossible to attack) its just a matter of massing up sc's and summons and rampaging through the map. one use for positions such as this are testing strategies and SC loadouts the letting the ai retake their provinces that your experiments capture

[Tom_Scudder]

Right, so here's the final world map as my scouts reported it. Jotunheim had the bulk of the blank area in the southern continent, according to the score graphs. You can see how they're basically all on top of each other, with about a third of the map still totally unexplored/unconquered. I had a pretty favorable drop, although Pythium's was probably the best of the lot if they'd been able to figure out how much force was needed to bust through the big independents.